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Excellent NMM and those skin tones are just perfect!

Nice work so far on the Krootamajiggers. Not sure I would have ever chosen such a time consuming color scheme. I prefer the eye catching and deceptively simple effects.


I've been giving some thought to your comment on my own thread, in between bass drops of course, and I'm brainstorming ideas for Kroot battlesuits. I keep coming back to the idea of using IG sentinels in some fashion for this. Like a completely stripped-down, open topped conversion with the pilot mostly exposed, more of an agile gun-carriage than a suit. The propensity of Kroot to work as mercenaries opens you up to using salvaged tech from other races, and of course there's always the 'leftovers' of their last meal. So I can honestly see captured suits of marine power armor with krooty jungle camo bits and tribal totems attached to use as stealth suits.


or....or....or or or or or or or OR perhaps Dark Eldar grotesques will be an option for a new subspecies of kroot bred for agile heavy fighting. That opens up a wide range of possibilities. You could also venture outside the GW product range for heavier kroot variants. Look to the Legion of Everblight for some interesting creature models that almost fit the aesthetic of kroot, either a new kroot subspecies or goaded beasts of burden. At this point I'm just about out of ideers for them thar kroot varmints.

 bossfearless wrote:
Nice work so far on the Krootamajiggers. Not sure I would have ever chosen such a time consuming color scheme. I prefer the eye catching and deceptively simple effects.


I've been giving some thought to your comment on my own thread, in between bass drops of course, and I'm brainstorming ideas for Kroot battlesuits. I keep coming back to the idea of using IG sentinels in some fashion for this. Like a completely stripped-down, open topped conversion with the pilot mostly exposed, more of an agile gun-carriage than a suit. The propensity of Kroot to work as mercenaries opens you up to using salvaged tech from other races, and of course there's always the 'leftovers' of their last meal. So I can honestly see captured suits of marine power armor with krooty jungle camo bits and tribal totems attached to use as stealth suits.


or....or....or or or or or or or OR perhaps Dark Eldar grotesques will be an option for a new subspecies of kroot bred for agile heavy fighting. That opens up a wide range of possibilities. You could also venture outside the GW product range for heavier kroot variants. Look to the Legion of Everblight for some interesting creature models that almost fit the aesthetic of kroot, either a new kroot subspecies or goaded beasts of burden. At this point I'm just about out of ideers for them thar kroot varmints.

LOL. Krootamajiggers = Firewarriors. Yeah Time consuming is an understatement. each model...there are 8 so far plus 1 drone (out of the max 12 + 2 drone {its all in my showcase gallery}) finished, takes about 7- 10 hours of painting. I am slow but im not concerned with that as i love painting them and each one is a delight. Plus i want the army to show off the painting more than the conversions so its a fine result. Now, as for your ideas. YES. I was thinking about walkers also, though not the IG. The geometric shapes are too blocky and i do want the kroot to seem very high tech. Its a balance between feral and high tech and its a bit of a tricky one, which is why i dont want to get TOO married to beasts. I think the "evolved kroot" idea is a bit more novel and the color themes are pretty heavily influenced by starwars. i was thinking modified Eldar walkers with tau bits and weapons added. I won one from a painting comp about a year ago and it was just sitting there so i took a look at the sprues. The only real modelling issue is that the cockpit is a bit small and the seat is high. After the eldar pilot is cut away, the kroot pilot will need to be modelled with his legs and knees pulled up a bit. And as the back of the seat is too high to fit the kroots damn head spines, i would either have to turn the head, or figure out a way to cut the seat lower so his head will look straight in front. You know what i mean? But the walker idea i think is pretty awesome...Though, well, the jumppacks im not so sure of, id have to proxy the jumppack rule with somethink like "teleporters" or "Super speed". Jumping walkers isnt ideal. But thanks for the great ideas with checking out other models as well

And now that i think of it, i could use the warwalker legs and the sentine;l cockpit like you say....hmmm...ill have to fisget with this Thanks boss

Also, heres another gimped pic from the last completed kroot. #8 of 12 of 48:/ And a pic of me with my 2nd place prize from Damos Painting Comp
This model was hard to photo, too many errant shadows and shapes...Oh well...And that unsightly glue/mold blob on the base has been since covered with more shrubbery Absolutely cannot have a dirty base rim. Goes against everything that is holy.



and me!


Yay

Ill be getting more kroot done towards christmas while slowly putzing around with my nmm orcc to get better results
Cheers
BB

My what a delightful poster you have Bebop! :-)

and as for Kroot walkers, hmmmmm lets see, you want a techno Kroot feel without being too mindful of other races or vehicles already in use? the first thing that comes to mind would be a skeletal exo suit for them, small armor plates protecting vital points but basically a Kroot on hydro stilts akin to the loader from Alien. that way you still get a Kroot feel and the conversion could be done fairly easily with your skills? of course in my mind it's much more than just that but it's hard to convey lol!

I think what you mean is, what a delightful poster i am!!

I think the walker idea for the kroots pretty solid. I thoiught about using the stealth suits...however the counts as rule states that i can use any model as long as its the same size or bigger. Unfortunately, the stealth suits are significantly smaller than the battlesuits and thus would be an awesomely unfair cover advantage. However, i do like the idea of using a modified stealth suit as a squad leader shas'ui.

man your kroot rebels are brilliant!...the lil extra with that light weathered tau helmet really is making again this squad a most unique project!

NMM as OSL is still a book closed to me... the guy who still tries to figure out how to do highlights

but i like that orc very much... the blade currently is the best in my view!

and congratzs for that cool poster...and also for that nice skyline...pretty good lighting there ...probably the best place to paint^^...if it wasn´t for wind and cold^^

Been through your blog and I love all your work, really, really good
Would you mind telling me ho you got that glowing green plasma weapon effect? I'd love to use it on my Fists

Hey Nash thanks very much, really nice of you to say so! Lets see: OSL. Well, the execution of it is somewhat more straightforward than it might appear to be. Its essentially almost completely clear coats of green glaze applied over and over to the subjected glowing area. And what i mean by clear is, almost completely water. You shouldnt even notice a tint the first 2 coats then slowly it shows itself. At this point i try to focus the glazes to the areas closer to the source of the glow, and pull or the feather the watery coats out wards so the hue is strongest closest to the source and weakest further away. For the glows actual source, I started with a medium bright green (i wanted a nuclear look so i went with a very bright color) then began to add a bright lime green then adding more and more white. i wanted one end of the plasma cel to look brighter than the other so the white is strongest at the top. This too was glazed with the green water and everytime i noticed it getting to green id intensify the glow source with another thinned coat of neon green/white. White at the very end.
The final bit of detail was to reinforce the glow on sharp raised areas that are very close to the source with the green i used to base coat the cel.
To be honest, as bright as the source is, the glow should be stronger and effect a larger radius, but i didnt want to over power the mini. So its slightly unrealistic but the eye doesnt often care if its believable. One thing to remember, light travels in a straight line. It can reflect of things, like the ground or other objects on or around it, but it wouldnt travel very far around a corner...
I know that might be more information than you wanted.
this WIP of the first drone i did for my kroot shows this technique a bit more clearly
(youll notice i didnt follow my own rule and the green glow creeps up over the edge of the side of the drone. I did that because i wanted it to be seen from the table top, not because its particularly realistic. Which it isnt lol).

Mate, love the NMM work. Always wanted to try it, but never had the guts. Thought the scales looked really nice and the sword was fantastic.

Thanks also for the OSL explanation, will be trying that for my new tau (since the method I used was.....not good)!

Ah san thanks bro AS for the NMM, its very much wip and im still finding my way around in the dark with it. The sword and the scales were the easiest to do, the other features will need more practice.
As for the OSL, there are easier ways to do it im sure, especially with your airbrush skill. I had to do it this way because of how i painted the miniature in the first place. But im glad it helped ya or something I hope you join my comp. itll probably start next week and run till the middle of january

Cheers!
BB

I wish I could mate, but I'm away on holidays at me moment and won't get back till just before Xmas. If you run another one though, I be in it for sure!

Hope your gigs are going well.

Yea looks like youre in either mexico or italy. I at the mo am in canada lol

Haha Italy mate was a bit shocked to see me dakka flag had changed

Hey guys Its time for another clump of productivity by yours truely mr bebop drums!! Back at home in la for a holiday filled with painting and heres the first update!

Ive finished yet another kroot rebel. Dum dum dum, another kroot bites the dust! These dudes are taking progressively longer and longer to finish, i dont know why. But im liking each one i do that much more as well so thats good. First up: heres number 9. (these pics are suprisingly poor after having uploadred them to dakka. blurry:(. ill be taking new pics tomorrow and replacing these i think...)

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ive decided to use the stealth suits as shas ui for the squad leaders. I need something to break up the painting. Plus ive no use for these models in my army as is because my stealth units will be chameleon like kroot. A little tiny bit of kroot bitz and its a fine addition to the squad.


and finally i finished modelling the base of the 2nd drone for the squad. Notice my incredible greenstuff skills?


Thats it for todays update! Would love to know what you guys think??

Also, side note, if youre interested in joining my painting comp, please do! here!!: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/567422.page
Theres some great painters in the comp and already some spectacular looking entries. The comp has only been up a week so theres over a month left before it closes! Please consider joining the fun
Cheers everyone!
BB

The camouflage shoulder pad makes me laugh everytime - a token effort to hide his bright blue skin Lovelt job though, the face in particular is very impressive

Lol, I have to say the main thing that stands out for me in this update is definitely the Greenstuffing skills! I mean Wow! :-)

the Kroot as usual are a joy to behold and you do such a great job with the additions and converting without going over the top and crazy yet everything works and looks so good!

and yes, I'm still in your comp, need to find me a guardsman though, still looking! :-)

Kroot looks great BB.

I hear you on the models taking longer the more you do. Mine now take so much longer than when I first started.
It's the cost of perfection.

thanks fellas
@ Ruglud: lol. yeah, its clearly not for practicality. Its merely a fashion statement used to tie the base to the mini in terms of color. Also its heavily taken from star wars design elements. Really the whole scheme is.

@Nerdy....pm your address please. ill be shipping you bits for your guardsman. Anyone else need a plastic cadian for the comp? (which has just come under fire by some jerk, go see for yourselves)

@Dr H: Agreed. Strangely the first one is stil my favorite and i cant seem to exactly replicate it!

As mentioned above, those pics are not good, very unclear.. im going to try using a digi cam today...

I thought I gave a reasonable answer without telling them to eff off with their 11 posts.

On a side note...do you guys think they are getting a little too ridiculous (flamboyant) with the colors? Ill post up a group shot in a few days, but its pretty funny. It looks like a bag of skittles exploded in 40k. I know its not eeryones cup o tea, especially if you like the grim dark. But I just freakin love painting in super bright tropical colors and it really suits the anime / starwars comics theme im going for.

Also im considering for the next 12, to do an entirely different set of colors for them. I have some really cool ideas for schemes but i dont want to ruin the cohesiveness of the army. They will of course be on the same bases so that will help.

PPS. where can i get 28mm catpeople heads. khajit whatever....
?

BB

Not that I'm the best person to comment on army-wide schemes, flamboyant colours or cohesive units (you've seen my "army")...

but I think it's a good scheme.
It's unique (which can seem rare in the tabletop gaming circles).
The colours work nicely together.
and you'll never loose one

Also, if you look at Eldar armies with the differently coloured aspect warriors, I don't think there's a problem with differently coloured units.
Although you may want to include an army-wide colour or two, just to tie them all together, but you could just do that with a banner/flag in each unit...

I say keep going.

Wow, how come I've never seen your thread, bebop ?!?

Your Kroots are stunning (even with the sculpting), and your practice with NMM is promising !!

I'll be following this for sure ! (and go back to those other 38 pages when I have the time )

Good point Dr H

Hi Yggs! Thanks Welcome ! Lol. No worries, theres more than enough brilliant content in the pm section to sift through Lol, Despite the sculpting you mean?? Actually theres very littlle. I only hd to sculpt a few hands here and there

Heres the *very* WIP of my shas ui (kroot in a hijacked stealthsuit). Speaking of camo!! Im going to probably only do a few more pieces on him like that. The gun casing for sure. Though im tempted to psint the whole of him green like that...The grey this time was airbrushed on to save me some basecoating time. Now all i gotta do is blackline the details. much faster for sure! And of course add weathering and freehands,,,
Whatcha guys think?

I like the idea of the Kroot painting it camo so it's still stealthy. I'm less solid on the different color Kroot, but I'll keep an open mind.

Love the idea of rebel Kroot, and this well executed so far

Bebop you know how I feel about your work but I'll tell you again! there is something refreshing about your Kroot that we ALL enjoy seeing due to the individual nature of each model and the bright colours which honestly aren't far out of field considering the enormity of the supposed 40K galaxy! if GW can paint goblin green bases years ago then you sure as hell can have a beautiful army of tropical Kroot hailing from a jungle world! :-) just because Grim Dark is Grim Dark doesn't mean you can't have Grim Colourful! I for one wouldn't want that poison frog love child stalking me! :-)

and i'll PM you my address in a sec! thanks dude!

I did also just catch that post before too! I'm an advocate of just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD comment like that when something is clearly (if you read the whole thread) a fun comp for those on Dakka who wish to improve and befriend others of similar heart!

Whale: Your interpetation of it almost threw me off course! I was nearly persuaded to paint the whole thing camo and then actually use it as a stealth squad! But alas no, i will still use these models as a shas ui for "firewarrior" squads. I know that they arent totally converted but just the simplest of kroot icons will go far enough. In this case the repeated camo pattern and the red handprint defacement of the tau logo.

RT, thanks for stopping in Im glad you like them so far. The project,8 months later, is still in its infancy. Though ive made more progress as of late

Nerdie, your guardasman shall ship out today! I cannot wait to see what you do with him! And thanks for the lovely compliments. They are weighty coming from a bada$$ like yourself!

Heres more *very* WIP of my shas ui. This model is starting to become another project. Hes still very WIP, and a couple of things im not entirely happy with. Color wise. I dont know what to do with the soft/inner armors of his arms. I think i need to stay white. If i had gone all green here i could have done the inner armors orange... but im going to push through and see whats what. Worst case scenario, ill do more models...The osl needs a little more juice and tweeking but i dont want it too strong or itll throw off the color harmony, which is already balancing on a thread....And the gun casing and energy clip will be camoed like the helm...
What do you guys think so far? I will say, I LOVE the head...

Glad I could make you question, it's like another hobby in the hobby for me

I think it can still go either way, its a hard sell that its a kroot in there.

You think so? I think actually it makes more sense that there IS one, the size of the model and the shape kinda seems more krootish. I mean just the dimensions, not the style per say...

Assuming that he is to lead the squad of kroot you have been painting, and assuming that the white/red and the camo' pattern are army-wide colours, he needs something to tie him in with the rest of the squad. Which you could use the cloth of the arms to do.

You could make it blue to match the "skin" of the kroot, but the same shade would probably be too strong. Maybe a pastel blue?

Or you could do the cloth the same as the cloth/pouches on the other kroot.